by S. L. Morgan
The chick was off the charts annoying even when Dom put on his rigid, alpha-shifter demeanor, using harsher tones with her than he did when he was Master Dominic. The chick wouldn’t stop. Finley shot off a couple of times to her, but Melanie knew the power she held over all of us non-leprechauns. I swear she must’ve been looking into a love spell for Dom because there was no way she couldn’t have known she was driving the guy insane.
Dom would nod and go back to his book, ignoring the fact that Melanie had to ask questions on every new topic after he turned each page of lore. If it wasn’t Dom’s shoulder she was looking over, she was going on about her own studies, or the fact that Dom needed to do this project with her. I could go on and on with the obsessive leprechaun, but it hurt my mind to think about it, and it was pointless. I needed to figure out my magic and hope to God that I could reverse this chick’s memories because that seemed to be the only solution at this point.
Snap! Snap! Vannah’s fingers were in front of my face, grabbing my attention.
“I know you and Dom need to be together, but if he comes down to these trees, you know that fairy is going to follow him and your secret spot will be exposed.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to get anything accomplished. You and Ethan were supposed to cloak your magic, and show me how you do things, but your magic doesn’t even work down here.”
“We need to worry about your magic, not mine. Now, listen,” Vannah started, sitting cross-legged in front of me where we sat beneath the trees. “I did some research on the fairy side of you. The witch side is obviously easier for me to figure out, but it feels like your powerful side of this comes from the fae.”
“Good Lord, I still can’t believe I have fairy genes in my blood.”
“Be glad you do, or you won’t be able to come up with something to derail that leprechaun, who’s turned into a bigger problem than anyone expected.”
“Alright, I don’t want to talk about her. I have to think.”
“Yes. We have to teach you how to cloak yourself, then bring that cloak over an entire room. You and Dom can’t have the separation this idiot is forming between you two. You have to work hard to get this down quickly because I can see his edginess already, and his mood is unreadable. It’s not like him to be so shut off to everyone and everything. I’m surprised he was okay to let you leave the table and study in the library last night.”
“He told me he’s okay, but he is starting to feel numb.” I sighed. “He’s battling a lot. I can feel how quickly it gets to him. We can’t even have a conversation before the stalker shows up and won’t shut up.”
“I know. I’ve been there.”
“Every time he waits for me after class? As soon as he brings me in for a hug or kiss, she’s screeching our way and stopping it.”
“That’s why it is so critical you get the cloaking spell down first. You and he can’t have this separation. Dom is usually more powerful than this, but this leprechaun is wearing him down. I see that.”
“She won’t quit.”
“So, focus.”
“What were you saying you read about my fairy genetics?”
“I thought about it this morning. I think your fairy genetics are from the elf line. It makes sense because elves deal with earth elements, and so does your wolf. I think the wolf wouldn’t have allowed you to form or use any kind of magic unless it could relate to it somehow. You know how you mentioned pulling your magic back from Dominic?”
“Yes.” I was easily following this, and if I had to have fairy in my blood, thank God it was elf genetics and none of the others. Elves were level-headed and logical, not nearly as whimsical and irritating as all the rest of the fairies.
“Well, your wolf helped you with that, right?”
“Yes.”
“The wolf seems to work well with that magic and those genetics. Elves are earth elementals, and your wolf needs the grounding force of the earth too.”
“Awesome. So how do I start getting my elf on?”
Vannah rolled her eyes. “Think back to when you used your magic…back to when you and Dom first found out about each other.”
“It was like I was in a body, mind, and soul sense of urgency, wanting the fire to happen, and the next thing I knew, the magic ball appeared.”
“No chanting?”
“No spells or chants.”
“The magic ball is obviously a witch spell, enhanced and called out by your elf—fae—genetics. When those are mixed together, you are able to use your magic without a spell, and when you use it, it’s powerful. Though, I don’t think you realize how powerful it is.”
“Okay. So, I need to think really hard about wanting what, exactly?”
“Start small and cloak your hand. Imagine like you did with the fireball. Think about how badly you want it, then focus on concealing your hand.”
I stared at my hand intently, wishing it would disappear from my vision. The fireball surfaced from my palm and covered my hand in a multitude of rainbow colors. I shook it off.
“Not working.”
“Focus.” Vannah ordered.
Over and over again, straining my eyes, I focused on cloaking my hand, and finally, I got a clear bubble to pop out of my palm—pretty awesome and weird—and cover my hand. My hand disappeared, and I wiggled my invisible fingers a few times to make sure they were still there.
“It works!” I said triumphantly.
Vannah laughed with me. “You did it!” She stood, “Come on. I think we’re about ten minutes past lights out. We’ll work on it, but the hardest part is over. Tomorrow we’ll broaden that and get you to surround more and more until you can cloak yourself, then us, then this area.”
“God, that’s a lot.”
“Don’t think like that, or you’ll never get it. It’s not really a lot, either. We’re just starting small. We’ve made great progress so far, and we’ll move fast from here.”
“How long do you think?” I asked while we stayed hidden in the shadows, heading to our dorm.
“A week?” she said. “By the way, you seem to be doing really well with Dom. How’s it going when you get time alone?”
“You mean if?” I rolled my eyes. “I think I’m doing really good. I’m not attacking him and ripping his clothes off.” I laughed. “To be honest, I’m actually the one slowing him down, and if I feel my wolf step in with her needs, I control her.”
“That’s really good. Man, poor Dominic.”
“Don’t remind me. I feel his loneliness and sadness when he lets his guard down. His wolf is there, but it’s like he has it shut down or something. The wolf feels like it wants more, but I feel Dominic in control and—” I stopped. I wasn’t going into kissing detail with my friend.
“No, I get it. I’m glad you’ve got control—for him. Does he know?”
“Yes. He told me last night before he left me to go to bed that if he didn’t have me to be in control like this, we’d have to have the leprechaun around just to stop him.”
“Oh, gosh, don’t let it come down to that!”
“Trust me, that’s the last thing that will ever happen,” I added. “It’s weird, though, and maybe it’s because of my magic, but I do feel like I’m in full control of this. I’m able to totally enjoy kissing him, but also slow it down, sort of like he did when I was going nuts on vacation.”
“Weird how those roles flipped, but Dom did experience the merge—so those emotions and feelings have to be overwhelming. He’s got to be expending a ton of effort to keep himself from falling apart.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I think my wolf is leaning on me having control, knowing her mate is still with her.”
“That’s good energy to feed her. I hope Dom and his will pick up on that from you.”
“If we could have at least five minutes alone without Melanie interrupting us, maybe he could sort of draw from it. I don’t know. He’s doing well, but I can see the sadness and loneliness surfacing in his demeanor. I’m n
ot losing him to this. He saved my butt from that demon by merging the wolves, and I won’t let him suffer for it. So, I need to get this cloaking thing down. I know that the only way I can give him comfort is by spending our nights alone without anyone knowing.”
“I feel so bad for you both. Yes, we need to get this down. I can’t believe it’s more critical now because of Melanie. Trust me, I don’t think any of us saw this coming.”
We turned down the hall and saw Dom, talking to Kat in front of our room at the other end of the hallway.
“I thought she would have come after me personally with her leprechaun tricks by now,” I said, talking to Vannah quietly in the halls of the dorms as we got closer to our room.
“Don’t think this isn’t all part of her fairy revenge on both of you.”
“True,” I shook my head. “Well, the joke will be on her once I figure some of this power out.”
“It’s annoying. I’m not sure how you deal with that Melanie girl,” Kat’s voice carried down the hall. “We can’t even sit at the same table with all of you. It’s that bad, Dominic. I feel horrible for you.”
Oh, please, shut the hell up. If it’s not one weirdo throwing themselves awkwardly at my man, it’s another.
“She’ll be taken care of. Anyway, I was here for Jenna.”
“Right here.” I smiled at him as Vannah and I approached from behind. Dom pivoted to face our direction and smiled.
“Hey, babe. I thought you’d be back already. Everything cool?”
“Yeah, Vannah and I got caught up, talking with Lusa. Sorry,” I said, reaching to brush along the stubble of his cheek after he leaned in for a kiss.
“Get in the room, Kat,” Vannah said with annoyance, shutting the door behind her.
“Damn, I’ve missed the hell out of you,” he said to me, pulling back.
“Easy on your language, Master Dominic,” I teased. “How are you?” I stepped back, seeing this new concerned and grief-stricken look on his face.
“I’m great now that I have a second with you before I head back to Ethan.”
“I heard you moved back into your room with E on this floor.”
Dom brought me close into his chest. “Yes. It’s annoying they moved us again, but it was good for Ethan. Sometimes letting him stay comfortable for too long can have adverse effects on him. It’s good for him to experience change and adapt. If he doesn’t get these lessons, he won’t cope well in the human world and will shift into the owl as a way to cope with unexpected changes.”
“You cool with coming back to your other rooms, then?”
He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead. “The closer I am to you, the more bearable it is to be at this school.”
I held him tighter, leaning my head against his chest. “We’ll get through this. I guess we can look at everything as our own personal challenge to overcome without needing to shift as a coping mechanism.”
I felt Dom laugh as he brushed his hand over my hair. “Yeah, after taking off like you did that day after Melanie’s presentation, I was wondering if you were going to shift outside of school rules whenever you wanted.”
“You have no idea how tempting it is.” I laughed. I stepped back, knowing that leprechaun shared this floor with us. “Enough about her. I have some good news.”
His brow arched. “Yes?”
“Well, I worked at little with Vannah tonight, and I cloaked my hand.”
Dom held a finger to my lip and smiled. “Shh,” his eyes drifted toward the door we were standing by. “God only knows who has an ear up to their door, listening to us talk.”
I glanced around, remembering the feeling of this school spying on us, the evil that lurked in these halls, and I nodded.
We already have an obnoxious and unpredictable leprechaun up our butts. We don’t need to resurrect the sleeping evil here too, I thought.
Dom nodded in response to my thoughts. “Yes.” He framed my face with his hands and brought his lips down for a kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I just wanted to see you before we headed off to bed.”
“Same drills tomorrow, Master Dominic?”
He grinned. “You like them?”
“Love them. You should have done this a while ago. Now, we get an added hour each day to shift. My wolf loves you even more too.”
He grinned. “Love is a strong word…even for your animal spirit.” He became more serious. “I know you’re teasing, but I can sense that emotion with my wolf now.”
My eyes widened. “Dom, that’s full-blown mates and merge talk. Your wolf shouldn’t feel like that unless he’s still one with mine.”
Dom sighed, “It’s part of what the wolf took on after the bond severed. I never felt my wolf holding onto that until this week.”
I blinked and swallowed hard. “How are you handling this? It has to be crippling at this point.”
“Well, thank God I have the wolf locked down. I run the show, he doesn’t.” He smiled, but I could tell it was forced. “So, that’s how I manage. I felt it after I shifted, and your wolf was at my side. Even as the wolf, I managed to suppress the emotion.”
“I can’t wait for the day when this is all behind us, and we can satisfy what fate has always intended.” I reached for his hand, knowing he had to leave and forgetting we needed to shut up about this in the hallway. “I hope we’re both right in suggesting we shouldn’t have gone through with it.”
He pinched his lips together, almost looking like he’d thought of that himself. “We made the right choice.” He stepped closer, swallowing up the distance between us, and he kissed the inside of my hand that he held. I watched him inhale and close his eyes for a brief second before his stunning brown eyes met mine. “I love you, Jen Silvers. Sleep well.”
Dom turned and strode quickly down the hall. I could tell he was massively struggling, and I worried if I didn’t get this cloaking thing down quick, it would only get worse. Dom needed to be sharp and his judgment unclouded by a leprechaun who’d made it her mission to haunt him.
Dom was putting on a good front, but I could sense the man slowly breaking apart. He needed his mate. He needed the wolves to be as one again and to not feel whatever pain he was dealing with, trying to fight it off.
This whole situation sucked.
34
“It’s been an entire damn month, Vannah!” I argued, completely frustrated.
“You need to calm down.” She narrowed her eyes at me, “I’d haul Ethan down here if I could, but he’s already reaching his limit, watching you and Dom deal with that obnoxious, clingy leprechaun.”
“I know, I get it. It’s just…” I let out a calming breath, trying to revert back to the mental state I’d meditated to get into before we started our magic training under the rainbow trees tonight. “I have got to figure this out. Dom’s getting distant and more detached from everyone by the minute.”
“That’s why Lusa stepped in and is trying to run interference with that girl. We all see her having an effect on him.”
“Well, thank God everyone thinks the only thing bothering him is psycho-fairy, but eventually, they’re all going to catch onto the fact that Dom, of all people, wouldn’t mentally collapse this easily over a clingy girl.”
“Not everyone can tell,” Vannah reassured me. “The masters might catch onto that, but they’re busy trying to wrap up the end of the school year too. You’re right, though. We need to get this cloaking thing stretched beyond just you and me, and that requires you to be positive. You have to stop thinking about anything and everything else. It’s not helping you. It’s distracting you.”
“Well, if I’m starting to feel a void, and I’m only longing to have an ounce of privacy with Dominic,” I glanced up to the trees, then back to Vannah, “then I can’t even fathom what he’s dealing with.”
“Like I said, we’re all working together. Now, focus!”
I focused and did everything I could to beg and plead with my powers to form a cloak, not for me, but for
Dom and the wolves. My wolf seemed like she was stepping out of the game now too. Longing to be with Dom’s wolf was wearing her down.
“I need my wolf to help me. She’s acting like she’s spaced out.”
“Then we’re going to go deeper than the wolf,” Vannah said. “Get into your mind. You don’t need your wolf’s help with this. These are your fairy genetics, and you will start learning how the witch and fairy in you can work together.”
“Time for the spell chants?”
“The school will pick up on the spell chants if you learn to use your magic with them, even if you mentally use them. Now, I want you to imagine…” she said the last word slowly. “Imagine, Jenna,” she repeated, “that you’re calling on your magic with a chant. Your fairy genetics will pick up on that, and the witch genetics in you will complement it all. Now, go!”
It was the final week of school. A successful quest for our finals was behind us, and still, I barely had a handle on this cloaking crap. Dom was putting up an impressive front, but I sensed he was losing his intense battle against his need to be with his mate. It was a matter of time before he snapped.
I was so caught up with Dom that I hardly recalled how Bradley and I wound up friends again. It was either from me ignoring his advances or him feeling sorry for me, having to deal with a psycho leprechaun who rattled off all damn day like anyone enjoyed her company. Either way, the bear shifter and I were back on decent terms, and thank God, not in Dom and Melanie’s situation.
Melanie had gotten worse around Dom because her fight to get through to him was returning nothing. He did what we all did—ignored her. Unfortunately, that was risky in its own way. That is precisely how a leprechaun could get the jump on you, and you never would’ve seen it coming. We were in the middle of our morning drills when that thought hit me, and it was almost like I’d manifested this girl to show up and approach Dom as he instructed us in advanced fighting skill. I was in the middle of a sparring routine when Dom called out to us.